computer science

SIGACCESS

SIGACCESS is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand SIGACCESS rather than just read about it. In short: ACM SIGACCESS is the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on accessible computing, an interdisciplinary group of academic and industrial researchers, clinicians and rehabilitation personnel, policy makers, end users, and students to develop technologies for use by people with disabilities. History In 1964, the Association for Computing Machinery started a Committee on Professional Activities…

Key takeaways

SIGACCESS belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect SIGACCESS to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of SIGACCESS from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

ACM SIGACCESS is the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on accessible computing, an interdisciplinary group of academic and industrial researchers, clinicians and rehabilitation personnel, policy makers, end users, and students to develop technologies for use by people with disabilities.

History In 1964, the Association for Computing Machinery started a Committee on Professional Activities for the Blind, which published a newsletter for four years and organized a conference in 1969. The purpose of the committee was to promote and support blind people as capable programmers. The committee broadened its focus to include other people with disabilities and became the "Special Interest Group on Computers and the Physically Handicapped" (SIGCAPH) in 1971. In 2003, the SIG was renamed to SIGACCESS.

Conferences The ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS) is the flagship annual conference. All conference contributions are peer-reviewed by an international program committee, and accepted papers, posters and demonstrations are archived in the ACM Digital Library. All authors of accepted papers will be invited to submit extended versions of their papers to a special issue of the ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS). SIGACCESS also sponsors other ACM workshops and conferences on a rotating basis.

Journal Transactions on Accessible Computing is a quarterly ACM journal that publishes refereed articles about accessible computing. The journal places emphasis on contributions with experimental results, but also accepts papers with new theoretical insights or positions. SIGACCESS also publishes the Accessibility and Computing newsletter.

Awards

ASSETS Paper Impact Award The ASSETS Paper Impact Award is given to authors whose papers have made a significant impact on the field. Papers must be at least ten years old to be considered.

2023 - Empowering individuals with do-it-yourself assistive technology; Author(s): Amy Hurst and Jasmine Tobias. 2021 - Disability studies as a source of critical inquiry for the field of assistive technology; Author(s): Jennifer Mankoff, Gillian R. Hayes, and Devva Kasnitz. 2019 - Slide rule: making mobile touch screens accessible to blind people using multi-touch interaction techniques; Author(s): Shaun K. Kane, Jeffrey P. Bigham, and Jacob O. Wobbrock. 2017 - Providing access to graphical user interfaces—not graphical screens; Author(s): W. Keith Edwards, Elizabeth Mynatt and Kathryn Stockton 2015 - Designing for Dynamic Diversity: Interfaces for Older People; Author(s): Peter Gregor, Alan Newell, and Mary Zajicek 2013 - User Interface of a Home Page Reader; Author(s): Chieko Asakawa and Takashi Itoh

Outstanding Contribution to Computing and Accessibility Award The Outstanding Contribution award is given in even-numbered years and recipients give a keynote presentation at the following ASSETS conference. Previous recipients:

2024 - Chieko Asakawa 2022 - Clayton Lewis 2020 - Jonathan Lazar 2018 - Judy Brewer 2016 - Richard E. Ladner 2014 - Vicki L. Hanson 2012 - John A. Gardner 2010 - Albert M. Cook 2008 - James Thatcher

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with SIGACCESS

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what SIGACCESS claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to SIGACCESS before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about SIGACCESS ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of SIGACCESS

In research: SIGACCESS appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses SIGACCESS in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: SIGACCESS is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Assistive technology, Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Groups, Computer accessibility, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for SIGACCESS outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study SIGACCESS in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what SIGACCESS means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain SIGACCESS out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is SIGACCESS in simple terms?

Why does SIGACCESS matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study SIGACCESS?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on SIGACCESS.